News from the Colonists

The Irish Sea blessed us with a fabulous forecast, light north wind, on which we motor-sailed 382 uneventful, nautical miles from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Detour rocketed downwind, 10-knots on the speedometer with a 4-knot current in our favor; then 6-hours later at the change of the tide we cursed that dang current for slowing us to a snail’s pace. The final stretch, motored at a whopping 2-knots ’round Land’s End, nearly had us reaching for paddles just so we could drop the hook which we were finally able to do at about 03:00 at the mouth of the Helford River. Soon enough, rested from passage, we found ourselves in Falmouth Harbour; a historic arrival/departure port for ocean-crossing seafarers. We picked up a green, guest mooring at Falmouth Haven and set to the usual task of getting our bearings in a new port while laundry tumbled in the HUGE machine at the service building. We wandered through Falmouth’s narrow, cobble-stoned streets. It didn’t take us long to find the Trago, which maybe is equivalent to K-Mart and HomeDepot combined with an Agway in the basement – it had every random, household item you could possibly imagine, cheap! It also didn’t take us long to find live music, oven fired pizza, and an array of still and sparkling ciders ripe for tasting. We took a lovely moat walk around the Pendennis Castle, followed by a pasty or two. It hadn’t taken long to settle at Falmouth.We connected with Ocean Cruising Club Port Officer, John H.; his home port is the Helford River. John and his wife, Sue warmly welcomed us. They spent an afternoon with us out on the town in Falmouth and Penryn (fabulous lunch combined with a few boring boat chores which were expedited by the luxury of a car). Later in the week they sailed S/Y Quaker Girl out to Detour for a raft-up lunch. We hopped aboard S/Y Quaker Girl for a private river tour; after-which John directed Detour to a mooring from which we were able to access Helford to take an evening stroll and sample the cuisine at Shipwright Arms – the infamous pub that we simply could not miss! Many, many “Thanks!” to John and Sue for their hospitality, and willingness to share their knowledge with us of cruising destinations, wacky tidal flows, and of course the marvels of Cornwall, England.

Falmouth – little boats’ harbour

John, Sue, & Brian aboard S/Y Quaker Girl

Gillan Creek

Moored in Helford River

Helford

’round the bend to the Shipwright Arms

After several days hunkered in the Fal River and Truro River due to inclement weather, we were ready to move and groove once again!